Container filling machine



Nov, 15, 193

A. c. EVERETT CONTAINER FILLING MACHINE Filed Nov. 15, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR dL/m/amu W a Lmwa, @LM

ATTORNEY Nav. 315, 1938. A. c. EVERETT CONTAINER FILLING MACHINE Filed NOV. 15, 1935, 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY d 7q (fawwm M @tmlu'u ATTORNEY Nov. 15, 193. c, EVERETT 2.136,4Z1

CONTAINER FILLING MACHINE FiledNov. 15, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVENT-OR QLMM ATTORNEY New, 15, 1%. A. c. EVERETT 2,135,421

'GONTAI ER FILLING MAGHINE Filed Nov. 15,1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 i s-Iii $7 I I INVENTOR LM QAMM ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE to Pneumatic .Scale Corporation,

Limited,

Quincy, Mass., a corporation oi Massachusetts Application November '15, 1933, Serial No. 898,090

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a container filling' machine, and particularly to a rotary container filling machine. I One object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved container filling machine by which the containers may be. filled in a rapid, economical, and highly eflicient manner.

further and more specific object of the invention is to provide a novel container filling me," hinezin 'which provision is made for preventi ripping of the liquid from the filling nozzles. Y v f'still further object'of the invention is to provid afnovel and improved container filling mac ne 'operating upon the vacuum principle and 1 5 in "hich provision is made for preventing dripn of theliquidj from the filling-nozzles.

thesef obiects in view and such others as einafter appear, the invention consists machine and in the various strucpg pgements and combinations of parts here nafter described and particularly defined in the clairns atthe end of this specification.

iiln tlie drawings-illustrating the preferred emof theinvention, Fig. 1 is a front ele- 7 ct ryfiliing machine embodying the s a plan of the machine shown f; is a cross-section taken on the 8- 4 ken; rithe line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a ti a'l detail of one of the filling nozzles and partsrFig. 6 is an elevation partly in ustratingthe control valvein a difn a source bottles are 7 y tank I0,

4!? and proyisionis made 0 ottles by a fitii t was? is vr; during 0 tin usmovement 'ffth tort] fillin g mechsupported V vacuum prihbipl' "was 'eriei'n showmith'e einptw "ttl are transfefti'edaifromi thes'incomingi onveyoratlil to the 6'6 filatforms: u;.;:-;oe tnei rotaliysiiiiling iidevice by a continuously rotating spider 88 which is mounted on a shaft 46. The lower end of this shaft is rotatably mounted in bearings 4|, 42 formed in the machine frame and is driven by a gear 44 which is fast thereon. The transfer-spider 38- is provided with a series of teeth 48, the inside portions 48 being formed to fit the shape of the bottle, while the back portions 49 are made of such curved shape that the successive bottles are caused to move with an accelerating motion in the direction of travel of the spider teeth.

Guide members 58, 52 serve to guide the bottles on the conveyor I! so that as they are delivered to the spider teeth 46 the movement of the bottle is not stopped entirely and, consequently, the bottle doesn'ot have to be picked up by the front of the teeth 48 from a dead stop. The teeth of the spider are so formed that the diameter of the center line of travel of the bottles around the spider is less than the pitch diameter of the spider driving gear 44. This gives less lineal speed to the bottle than the lineal speed which it would have if the diameter was the same as the pitch diameter of the gear 44. The gear .44 meshes with and is driven by a gear. 60 which forms the driving gear for the rotary bottle filling device. 1

During the rotary movement of the bottle supporting spider or platform 36, the bottles are engaged by carriers 82 mounted on the platform 36 and positioned in alignment with filling heads 64. The diameter of a circle passing through the center of the bottles carried on the filling machineis greater than the pitch diameter of the gear 60 and, consequently, imparts a slightly higher. lineal speed to the bottle than it would have if positioned so thatthe diameter of a circle through the bottles was the same as the pitch diameter of the gear 60.

It will be observed that while the teeth 46 of the transfer spider 38 operate in timed relation with the carriers 62, the lineal speed of the individual bottles is slightly less than that of the carriers 62 when they are delivered thereto and, consequently, the carriers move slightly faster than the teeth 46 and carry the bottles out of contact with the inside portions of the teeth 48 and allow the points of the teeth 46 to continue their rotation without interfering with an individual bottle which has just been delivered to one of the carriers 62 and, hence, the proper alignment of the bottle is not disturbed and no jamming or breakage occurs.

' Provision is made for rotating the rotary carrier upon which the bottles are supported from a motor belted to a shaft 8I and the latter is provided with a worm 83 cooperating with a worm gear 88 on a shaft 81 mounted in bearings in the base of the machine. The bevel gear 88 formed as a part of a clutch housing 8i is normally arranged free on the shaft 81 until the clutch housing 8| is engaged by the second member 83 of the clutch when a manually operated clutch lever 88 is thrown. In this manner, the bevel gear 88 is driven from the shaft 8'! through the clutch and operates to drive a bevel gear 81. The bevel gear 81 is provided with a gear 89 attached thereto which is free to turn on a vertical stud II and meshes with an idler gear I3 cooperating with the gear attached to and arranged to drive the rotatable bottle supporting. spider in which the carrier members are mounted. The gear 44 for rotating the spider 38 is arranged to mesh with and is driven by the gear 80.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the bottles are filled with the liquid contained in a supply tank I0 by the illustrated mechanism operating upon the vacuum principle and in which provision is made for evacuating the bottles and causing the liquid to be drawn up from the supply tank by the vacuum in the bottle. As illlustrated in Fig. 4, a circular bearing member I2 is fastened to the top of the base I4 and comprises an outer cam ring I8 having a cam surface 78 formed on the top edge thereof, and an inner supporting sleeve 80 which'acts as a bearing for a rotating sleeve 82 rotatably mounted therein. The gear 80 is fast to the bottom of the sleeve 82 and causes it to rotate. An end disc 88 which is supported by the column 88 formed in the base I4 is also fastened to the bottom of the sleeve 82 and forms a vertical supporting member for the sleeve. An anti-friction bearing 90 located between the disc 88 and the column 88 facilitates the rotation of the sleeve 82. A cylindrical casing 92 is attached to a circular flange 84 formed on the sleeve 82 and supports a plurality of bottle elevating devices, each comprising a platform 38 mounted on the end of a vertical rod 98 extending through a bearing in the bracket I00 which is attached to the top of the cylindrical casing 92. A roll supporting sleeve I02 free to slide on the rod 08 is provided with a roller I03 rotatably attached thereto which cooperates with the cam surface 18 above described. The sleeve I02 yieldingly raises the platform 38 through the spring I04 which freely encircles the rod 88 and cooperates with the underside of a collar I08 fast on the rod 88. A guide pin I08 fastened to the platform 38 and guided in a hole I I0 in the bracket I00 serves to keep the platform 38 in proper alignment.

A sleeve II2 mounted in the sleeve 82 is arranged to be adjusted for varying heights of bottles by means of an adjusting screw II4, the lower end of which is provided with screw threads cooperating with a threaded nut II8 fast in the end disc 88. The upper end of the adjusting screw H4 is mounted in a bearing formed in a bracket I20 and is provided with a bevel gear I22 fast thereon which cooperates with the bevel gear I24 fast on the end of a shaft I28 mounted in a bearing I28 held in the sleeve I I2. The shaft I28 is provided with a pin I30 to which a wrench may be applied to turn the shafts I28 and H4 and vertically adjust the sleeve II2. A clamping screw I32 is provided in the top of the sleeve 82 to normally hold the sleeve H2 in position after an adjustment has been made. i

A plurality of filling heads 84 are mounted on top of the sleeve II2 to rotate therewith, each of said filling heads being in alignment with its cooperating elevating platform 38 by which an individual bottle is raised into operative engagement with the filling nozzle I48 depending from and carried by the filling head 84. As illustrated in Fig. 4, the filling heads 84 are detachably mounted upon a central rotatable hollow member I48 which is subdivided to form two horizontally disposed cylindrical chambers I80, I82, and one chamber I82 is connected throug the piping I 84 to the supply tank I0 and through which the liquid is drawn by the vacuum created within the bottle and caused to how down through the nozzle I48 to fill the same. Provision is made for creating a vacuum or exhausting the air from within the bottles and for insuring the filling of the bottles to uniform level, and, as herein shown, each filling nozzle indicated generally at I48 has mounted thereon an inner tube I80. connected to a liquid chamber I82 in the filling head 84 and comprises the filling nozzle through which liquid is introduced into bottle. The annular passage I84 between the filling nozzle I48 and the inner tube I80 is connected to a suction chamber I88 in the filling head 84 and this suction chamber is directly connected to the second chamber I80 of the central rotatable hollow member above referred to. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the filling heads 84 are arranged to be detachably mounted upon the member I48 and as herein shown, each filling head 64 is provided with a.- tubular extension which is adapted to closely flt into bored holes in the periphery of the member I48 to form an air and liquid tight connection between the heads 84 and the member I48. In addition, each filling head is provided with a flanged portion which may be secured to the member I48 by screws, not shown, in order to provide a detachable mounting between the filling head and the member I48. Suitable gaskets, not shown, may also be provided between the flange and the member I48.

Referring now to Fig. 8, it will be observed that a valve 200 is connected by a pipe 202 to a vacuum pump, not shown, which may comprise any of the well known types. The valve 200 is adapted to be operated by the worm 204 on the end of a shaft 51 through the worm wheel 208- fast on the valve shaft 208. The valve 200 is connected to vacuum chambers 2I0, 2 by pipes 2I2, 2I3 and the bottoms of said vacuum chambers 2I0, 2 are provided with drain pipes2l4, 2I8. The drain pipes 2 I4, 2 I5 extend into the supply tank I0 and are provided with check valves 2l8, 2 I I which will allow the surplus liquid drawn from the top of the bottles, as will be described, to be discharged into the supply tank when there is no vaccum in the chambers 2I0, 2| I. The valve 200 is adapted to be operated to alternately connect the chambers 2 I0, 2I I with the vacuum pump and to alternately open them to atmospheric pressure. It will be seen, therefore, that the chambers 2I0, 2I I open to atmospheric pressure will immediately discharge any liquid which has accumulated therein into the supply tank I0.

Referring now to Figs. 9, 10, and 11, the valve 200 is provided with three chambers 20I, 203, 205. The chamber 20I is cylindrical in shape and is connected by a port to the pipe 202. The pipe 202 is connected to the usual suction pump (not shown). The chambers 203 and 208 are connected to the pipes 2I2, 2I3, respectively. The chambers 20I, 203, and 205 are closed by a rotatable closure and by-pass valve member 281 yieldingly held against the face of the valve 208 I8 by a spring .206 and nut 2I6 on the valve shaft 206, as shown. The closure member 201 is keyed to the shaft 206 to rotate therewith and to be 201 through substantially one-half of a cycle and then with the chamber 206 during substantially the remaining half of the cycle, as will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 9, 10; and and during these operations when suction is being established in the chamber 203 by the connection of the chamber with the central chamber 20I through theby-pass valve member 201, provision is made for connecting the other chamber 205 with the atmosphere, as shown in Fig. 10, and for this purpose a second by-pass passage 22I is provided in the rotatable valve member 201. Similarly when the chamber 206 is connected by the by-pass 201 to the central chamber 20I, then the chamber 203 is connected by the by-pass22l to the atmosphere. In ortier to soften the action of the opening of the chambers 20I, 203, and 205, air is admitted through the bleeder ports 226, 221, as shown in Fig. 9, to prematurely and gradually lower the vacuum within the chamber Just prior to the sudden opening of the chambers by the valve 201.

In order to remove any excess liquid that is discharged into the bottles, the nozzles I46 are connected to either of the vacuum chambers 2J0,

2H and, as above stated, comprise an outer tube with the vacuum chambers 2I0, 2 through the passageways I66, I50, 222, pipeconnections 224,

226 and check valves 226, 229. It will be observed that when the vacuum chamber 2I9 is connected to the vacuum pump through the valve 200, the check valves 2I6, 226 will be closed and the check valve 226 will be open, thus crawing the surplus liquid from the bottle into the chamber 2I0 when the liquid reaches a level above the end 260 of the nozzle I46 and, conversely, when the chamber 2 is connected to the vacuum pump through the valve 200, the check valves 2", 226 will be closed and the check valve 226 open and the air and surplus liquid will be withdrawn fromthe bottle into the chamber 2.

-When the chamber 2"] is opened to atmospheric pressure through the valve 260', as has been described, any surplus liquid which may have accumulated in the chamber 2" will be discharged through the pipe 2 and check valve2i6 into the supply tank I0. The'chamber 2 will likewise be emptied when it' is opened to atmospheric I pressure.

In order to prevent dripping of the liquid from the filling nozzles after the bottle has been removed from bottle filling position, the liquid passage through which liquid fiows to each filling nozzle is'provided with a valve 220 herein shown bottle is in filling position, the valve 220 is raised by the pressure of the liquid against the under surface thereof and is caused to move into the position slidwn in Fig. 5, permitting the liquid to new freely from the valve passage through the valve to theliquid chamber I62 in the filling head and thence through the inner nozzle or tube I comprising ,a part of the filling nozzle, as above described. When the bottle is removed from filling positionand the suction broken, the valve falls into the position shown in Fig. 6 closing the liquid passage, and in order to prevent the body. of liquid remaining within the chamber I62 and in the inner tube I60 from eventually dripping from therend of thefilling nozzle, provision is made for establishing communication between the chamber I62 and the overflow or suction passage I66, and, as herein shown, the wall 240 subdividing the chamber I62 and the passage I66 is provided with an opening 242 which is arranged to "be opened and closed by a conical auxiliary valve member 244 formed on the valve 220, as shown. By reference to Figs. 5 and 6, it will be apparent that-during. the operation of the machine, when the valve is in the raised position shown in Fig. 5 during the filling of the bottle, the opening 242 is closed by the auxiliary valve member 244, and when the. valve falls into the position shown in Fig. 6 upon removal of the bottle from bottle filling position, then the opening 242 is opened, permitting the suction within the suction passage I66 to exhaust the body of liquid contained within the chamber I62 and nozzle I60, and to carry the same back to the overfiow chamber. In this manner, after each bottle filling operation the chamber I62 and the liquid nozzle I60 are completely emptied of their liquid contents, thus preventing the subsequent dripping of liquid from the filling nozzle. This drip preventing feature of the present invention eliminates a disadvantage which experience has shown to be inherent in all prior filling machines of which I am aware and contributes to the maintenance of the machine in a clean and sanitary condition.

'cient capacity is utilized to provide the necessary amount of suction to perform the filling operation.

- The individual filling heads having the filling nozzles mounted therein are, as above stated, removabiy secured to the central rotatable hollow member and this arrangement enables the passages therein and the nozzle to be cleaned in a most economical and simple manner, and contributes to the commercial value of the machine.

While the illustrated machine is particularly adapted for use in filling bottles, it will be understood that the essential features 01' the invention may be embodied in machines for filling any other containers, and while the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms with in the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a vacuum operated filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle adapted to be sealed by a bottle, a liquid conduit connected with the filling noule, a valve in the liquid conduit located above the discharge end oi the filling nozzle for controlling the fiow of liquid therethrough, said nozzle having a liquid tube and a suction tube, a suction conduit connected to the suction tube and filling nozzle, and means rendered operative when the bottle is removed from the filling nozzle for automatically establishing communication between the suction conduit and a portion of the liquid conduit between said valve and the end of the nozzle when the valve is closed for removing liquid therefrom to prevent dripping from the end or the nozzle.

2. In a filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle, a liquid conduit connected with-the filling nozzle, a suction conduit, and a single valve member for controlling the fiow of liquid through the liquid conduit and for establishing communication between the suction conduit and a portion oi the liquid conduit between the valve and the end oi the filling nozzle when the valve is. closed to thereby remove liquid therefrom to prevent dripping from the nozzle.

3. In a vacuum operated filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle provided with a liquid passage and a suction passage, 9, filling head block in which the nozzleis mounted, said block being provided with a liquid passage connected with the liquid passage of the filling nozzle and a suction passage connected with the suction passage of the filling nozzle, and being provided with an opening establishing communication between the suction passage and the portion of the liquid passage immediately above the filling nozzle,

and -a single movablevalve member having provision for controlling the fiow of liquid through the liquid passage insaid block and for closing and opening the said opening for the purpose specified when the valve is in its opened and closed positions respectively.- i

4. In a filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle adapted to be sealed by a bottle, a liquid conduit connected with the filling nozzle, a suction conduit, and means rendered operative by removal of the bottle from the filling nozzle for automatically establishing communication between the suction conduit and the liquid conduit whereby to prevent dripping of the liquid from the end of the filling nomle.

5. In a vacuum operated filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle provided with a liquid passage and a suction passage, means for evacuating the container when in operative filling condition, a liquid supply tank operatively connected with the liquid passage of the filling nozzle and from which the liquid may be drawn by the vacuum within the container to fill the bottle, overflow means including two overflow tanks, a suction line connected with'the suction passage of the filling nozzle, a valve member provided with two outer chambers and an inner chamber, the outer chambers being respectively connected to the overflow tanks and the inner chamber being connected to a source of suction, and a positively driven rotary member for establishing communication between the inner chamber and first one and then the other of the outer chambers, said rotary means having provision for connecting the outer chambers successively to permit the entrance of air therein, said means operating to admit air to one outer chamber when the second outer chamber is being connected with the inner .chamber, said valve. having provision whereby the admission of air to said chambers takes place gradually.

6. In a filling machine, in combination, a filling nozzle adapted to be sealed by a bottle, a liquid conduit connected with the filling nozzle, a

valve in the liquid conduit located above the discharge end of the filling nozzle for controlling the fiow of the liquid therethrough, a suction conduit, and means rendered operative by removal of the bottle, from the filling nozzle for automatically establishing communication between the suction conduit and the portion of the liquid conduit between said valve and the end of the filling nozzle when the valve is closed for removing the liquid therefrom to prevent dripping from the end of the filling nozzle.

' ARTHUR CLARENCE EVERETT. 

